Sources: Tebow chose the Jets because he thinks he can beat Sanchez out for starting QB

posted at 4:50 pm on March 23, 2012 by Allahpundit

We’re almost done with the “Tebow among the lepers” posts, I promise, but this was the one loose thread left in yesterday’s item and I wanted to tie it up for you. Why, oh why, oh why would a guy who would have been a marquee starter in Jacksonville come to New York to be a back-up? Answer, allegedly: Because he thinks he can be a marquee starter in New York before very long.

I think this might be it for me as a Jets fan, guys. Even a beta male can only take so much.

A major factor in Tebow’s push to come to New York over Jacksonville, his hometown, is that he sees a clear path to resuming his career as a starter, sources tell the Daily News.

The Jets will start Tebow off in a limited role as the Wildcat quarterback — GM Mike Tannenbaum must have said 20 times the other night that Sanchez is the starter and Tebow is the backup — but what other backup flies cross-country on a private jet, as Tebow did Thursday from Van Nuys, Calif., to Morristown, N.J., only to disembark to an adoring crowd of Tebow-ing fans? (The plane’s tail number? N15QB.)…

If the conventional offense with Sanchez running it is ineffective and Tebow is moving the ball in the outdated Wildcat, he will get increased snaps. That puts Sanchez on the bench. He will pout. More plays for Tebow could lead to an eventual flip-flop on the depth chart. The Jets must be creative in giving Tebow a diverse package, otherwise defenses will zero in on him the way the Patriots did in their 45-10 playoff victory over the Broncos…

Tebow is a polarizing figure, and Sanchez has become a lightning rod himself in New York. The fans will take sides. The players will take sides. The coaches will take sides. Tebow says he’s been friends with Sanchez for several years, but a quarterback controversy could end that.

Supposedly no one in Jacksonville’s front office wanted him except the owner, which means — incredibly — that Tebow might have faced an even more toxic locker-room environment there than in New York. Best-case scenario: A newly motivated Sanchez buckles down and finally learns how to complete a pass longer than six yards. Worst-case scenario: He crumbles under the pressure of Jets fans chanting “TE-BOW, TE-BOW” every time he misses a receiver and they end up platooning to the bitter end of a glorious 6-10 season.

It’s one thing to root for a team that’s constantly embroiled in locker-room backbiting and obnoxious media drama if they’re winning, but perennial losers are fun only when they’re lovable. (If they weren’t, the Cubs’ fan base would have died out decades ago.) I feel like I’m stuck in a bad marriage. I made a commitment in the foolishness of youth — the Giants have won four Super Bowls(!) since I started wearing green — and now I’m duty-bound to honor it forever, no matter how loveless and resentful the relationship becomes. At this point, it’s like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”; even if they did somehow go all the way to a championship, my gut reaction would be, “About time, you LOSERS.” And the thing is, divorce isn’t really an option. Not because I’d miss them if I switched allegiances but because it’s an absolutely metaphysical certainty that as soon as I dumped them, they’d win the Super Bowl the very next season. After what they’ve put me through for 30 years, I won’t let the bastards have the satisfaction.

Self-reflective exit question: Would I be an atheist if I had grown up a Giants fan? Dude, four Super Bowls.